Short Circuit
Stop zapping yourself while trying something new
Ever since I stepped on a sailboat, new skill gaps have been coming my way. To quote my partner, “you can learn to sail in a day and keep learning for the rest of your life.”
We are dockside for four months in Colombia, which seems like a window to bring some of my boat maintenance blind spots into view. While at sea or at anchor, we have additional duties of monitoring our power and water consumption, meal prepping and planning far from stores, washing every dish in the sink, navigating on a route, and ensuring the vessel is secure. The time requirements for all this have astounded me. The effort has cleared away most others, and transmuted my creativity from making objects into writing and reading words that ground my experience.
Enter Nigel Calder’s Boatowner’s Mechanical and Electrical Manual.
This 592-page tome was on board when we bought our boat and has been referenced countless times as our trusty companion in troubleshooting. Inspired by walking every aisle of Home Depot, I decided to build some momentum by going slow and steady through each page. I skip sections that aren’t relevant to our boat and those that discuss decisions we have already made. For example, I skipped the description of internal and external regulators — and internal regulators attached to the alternator’s outside casing, good grief! — because we made our choice in 2020 and can refer back in a decade or two when it’s time to replace.
This guide for “how to maintain, repair, and improve your boat’s essential systems” makes for excellent bedtime reading. There’s something sweet about entering dreamland from here. Nigel is engaging, but the material is decidedly dry. I often read it aloud, which prompts Scott to share details about past projects I was less involved with. We aim for equal access to rest, sufficient abilities for maintenance and operation, and specialization that suits our experience and interests. When something is critical, we put in the starting player, which is sometimes me and sometimes him.
One night in chapter three, I came across the following:
A short circuit is a direct connection from the hot side of a circuit to the ground side, bypassing the load itself.
Bypassing the load itself.
Huh.
A few years ago, I spotted a pattern in how I went about sewing garments. I'd pick a project and start hearing “I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't do this”, until BAM! I'd done it. My track record built and my closet filled. The voice talking me down revealed itself as an unreliable narrator. I could make pants and a quilt and a windshield for our sailboat. The seams may be wonky, but they had a tendency to straighten up with each project. I wondered about the quality of work I could deliver if I was neutral or even bouyant with myself.
When I'm going about something, I have a tendency to bring a lot of motivation and earnestness to bear. This is a bit like the hot side of a circuit, or the source.
If you're familiar with the water analogies for electricity, the ground side of the circuit in a direct current system (like solar or wind generation) is the downstream side. In my musings, this is that relaxed feeling that flows in after getting something done. Satisfaction and accomplishment.
The load is the task at hand. On our boat, that may be the lights, refrigeration, charging laptops, or more specialized functions like the anchor light, diesel engine starter, radar, radio, AIS ship-to-ship tracking, auto-pilot, and so on.
A short circuit is when the hot side and the ground side connect, bypassing the load itself. A short circuit gets no work done. Sometimes they cause sparks and flames.
This section on short circuits flipped a switch. I suddenly have a name for what seemed to happen in my brain when tackling a new medium like plumbing, AC wiring, or woodwork. I was connecting my motivation with a desire to have bested it, without running the energy through the load (project). This seems especially present when troubleshooting something, like the flush function on our toilet most recently.
Working the problem is essential because working on the problem consumes some of that motivation and gives it a direct path out of us too. Have you ever been frustrated with a project you wanted to succeed so badly that you rushed through to disappointing results? Or even failed to start? For me this hasn’t (yet?) resulted in an actual fire, but internal sparks have definitely flown when I fail to pass through the project.
I've heard many people say they “aren't mechanically minded” and I have often felt the same. Some sort of spark was lit when I decided to spend my free time reading every verse of this boat owner’s bible, and reading a few pages before bed has tended the flame. Multitudes swear by learning from YouTube and it has certainly helped me through many a pickle too, but there’s something that feels so solid about having every boat system listed neatly in the table of contents. The numerous pages feel like a sturdy couch to settle into.
Look at what's in front of you, not the finish line.
Pay attention to the task at hand.
Name a few looming problems to work on before spring. Take a look at them as they are, rather than imagining the finish line.
Familiarize yourself with your utility's source of energy and local efforts to shift towards more renewables.
Bring a mug of tea or another treat along for your next session of doing something difficult.
Fabulous analogy and brain connectivity to the possibility negativity plays in short circuiting! Here's to satisfaction and accomplishment ... And lessons learned along the way.
I was connecting my motivation with a desire to have bested it, without running the energy through the load (project) I love this line, and good to remember as frustration and anxiety about completion sets in :-)